Materiel management
One of the main tasks of NDMA is to manage all the material of the Armed Forces.
The use and capabilities of, for example, a fighter jet, help determine how often it should be in for maintenance and inspection. The user maintains material safety by carrying out planned and necessary maintenance. NDMA follow up events or errors that emerge and gather experiences from other countries. Approximately 5000 technical documents are processed annually only for the Norwegian Armed Forces helicopter, aircraft and unmanned systems in order for these to be ready for use.
During the lifetime of the material, regular configuration changes are made when users' needs change or for other technical reasons. The NDMA aims to manage the equipment in a cost-effective manner. This can be done by changing the maintenance concept to reduce the number of maintenance hours, and increase the availability or capacity of the material.
It is the Material Management Department that is responsible for material management in NDMA. It is done through technical and administrative approval of materials used, and the responsibility is described in a separate Directive for material management in the defence sector.
The approved management solution shall facilitate sober and cost-effective operation of the material from a lifetime perspective. When the Armed Forces no longer need the material, or the purpose of the material is no longer present, this is handed over to The Ministry of Defence for phasing out. It is part of the Material Management Department’s responsibility to advise on how to phase out the material, such as destruction, sales and donation.
The Material Management Department shall advise the Ministry of Defence and other enterprises within the department's responsibilities.